Alice - Tale of an unclaimed one One Shot
by aquamarinesong
Summary: What if the war the campers had experienced had not only taken place once but more than once? In different time lines? And what if the war had not always taken the same course but a slightly different course? Experience the war from a different perspective. A completely different point of view. What if you were unclaimed?


**Alice – Tale of an unclaimed one**

You winced.

That was one thing you hadn't wanted to see.

You were standing apart from the fight, everyone was out there but you, but they didn't want you there.

Heck, they didn't even want you here, where you were standing!

'Stay at camp', they had told you, 'stay safe!'

Like they thought you would listen to them. Okay, perhaps they did, since most of them didn't actually know you all that much... And you might seem nice and shy and obedient, but you definitely weren't. That's the reason you were standing right were you were.

Anyway, what did you expect. You were unclaimed year-rounder. No famous mortal parent or famous adoptive parents. You had never done any especially heroic deed. You just weren't interesting.

For all you knew, the Stoll brothers were the only ones caring about your existence.

And that was only because it was their duty to do so. You were part of their cabin so you were their problem if something happened to you.

Though you wouldn't be anymore if you had had the courage to run away, but you were plain too scared to do so. You were a scaredy-cat. You were probably the model all scaredy-cats were crafted by.

And you were ashamed of yourself for it.

The fact you were so useless must have been the reason for your immortal parent to abandon you.

Your gaze wandered off from the battlefield, away from what you didn't want to see, to your hand resting on the large window of a shop's display. Your reflection stared back at you.

Your blonde hair was unkempt and you had large, dark bags under your eyes from lack of sleep.

You were in the middle of a war. You would look rather out of place if you didn't look like you did now.

But the thing was: you never looked out of place. You were so ordinary nobody even glanced at you twice.

That's why you could stand here and watch everybody fighting for their lives, for the lives of every single living thing on this planet, for your life, while you were just standing around.

A jolt of guilt sprang up inside of you.

You knew you should be fighting right now but you couldn't.

You were undetermined and someone you wouldn't remember from camp, even though you have spent more summers there than any other camper you'd come across, and there was a set of simple reasons to it.

You weren't pretty like the Aphrodite cabin.

Or crafty like the Hephaestus cabin.

Or good with rhyming or shooting arrows or healing or any other of Apollo's specialities like the members of his cabin.

You weren't a fighter like the Ares campers. Fact was you were bad with any sort of weapon they had tried to give you.

Give you a sword and instead of cutting anything you were supposed to cut, you would in nine out of ten cases stab yourself to death if you weren't stopped.

Lucky thing Luke had been such a good swordsman. Only during his classes you had been able to participate because you knew he could stop you. And because he knew he would have to.

At least until he left. Since then you haven't as much as even looked at any of the blades in the arena any more. You were sure to kill yourself with one of them one of these times.

Then there was the fact you were horrible with any type of animal and the satyres steered clear of you.

Also you didn't have to much wits or wisdom crammed into your brain like Athena's daughters and sons. Neither did you have their characteristic light blonde hair or stormy grey eyes.

Your hair was a darker shade of ash blonde and your eyes were blue sprinkled with gold, making most people think your eyes were asparagus green.

Additionally your eyes changed colour depending on what light you stood in or what make-up you put on, leaving you with a different shade every time one of the Aphrodite cabin's girls had tried to make you over.

Which had happened very often since you had come to camp Half-Blood, because you were rather plain and they seemed convinced they could change that fact.

You would just let them get on with it and wash the make-up off when it got on your nerves.

It was so cruel it was almost funny, seeing they managed to forget having put make-up on you as soon as you washed it off, coming to ask if they could make you over.

The only thing which clearly made you demigod, was your ADHD, your dyslexia and the fact monsters were constantly trying to get you. Really constantly. Unless you were inside the safe boundaries of camp Half-Blood.

Yet you were here amidst the city of sleeping mortals on the main battlefield in the war, that would determine the fate of the world as you knew it.

Yes, you were rather stupid if one looked at it that way.

But there was one reason you just couldn't sit still at camp with the Ares cabin. Apart from the fact they disliked you, because you lacked any capability of fighting.

Actually there were two.

There were two campers that made up your world.

Not that you were particularly close to even one of them, but you had admired them for a long time.

For one there was the one everyone admired.

Razing fearlessly through the lines of the enemy with his sword of celestial bronze, the boy everyone wanted to be. The son of Poseidon, Percy Jackson.

His black hair was moving with the wind caused by his endless strikes and parries. His eyes glowed in a lovely shade of green reminding you of the ocean.

Yes, you admitted, you had most definitely fallen head over heals for him.

From the first time he entered Hermes cabin with Luke five years ago and talked to you.

Usually people only talked to you if they needed to. They wouldn't notice you otherwise. Well they did but you weren't important. They'd just register there was someone there but that was it.

He was different. He talked to you in a friendly voice though he was still clearly freaked about the monster he had slain and his mortal parent whom he had lost.

He would always spend a little time with you and talk or even try to get you to do camp activities you knew you sucked at, but he made you feel less ashamed after your countless failures.

He had everything, but even so he would muster up a couple of minutes for a nobody at camp like you.

The second person was Annabeth Chase, leader of Athena's cabin.

She as well was exceedingly kind to a bother like you and was everything you would like to be.

She was pretty, although she wasn't like Aphrodite's kids, but more importantly she was intelligent, wise and she could fight as well.

Even so that wouldn't have made much of a difference since there was a lot of kids like that at camp. Half of Annabeth's cabin matched the description and you hated them. You were green with envy that's how jealous you were of them.

Yet Annabeth was special.

She reminded you of your mortal mother, whom you had lost.

You couldn't really remember how you had lost her, which was funny because you managed to remember pretty much everything up to your birth, excluding that first event of your life and how you had gotten separated from your mortal mother, but you were certain she had to most definitely be dead. You somehow knew exactly she was somewhere you could never reach her.

It was the thought of your mortal mother which kept hope alive in your heart and so did Annabeth. Since she looked so much like her, reminding you of the one relative you had and knew.

But there was a limit to that as well.

As you stood there in front of the shop display hidden behind the corner of a building watching the two people you treasured the most fighting side by side you couldn't help but feel pain roaring through your heart with the might of the father of monsters, Typhoon, who was heading towards all of you in this minute. While the gods were fighting him trying to slow him down.

Your gaze was locked on the two figures fighting back to back.

Annabeth and Percy were fighting for their lives. Yet there was a strange beauty in the way they fought.

You could see the red string of fate connect between those two. And that was what broke your heart.

It connected the two of them like an elastic band demonstrating they belonged together forever.

But there was one thing that caught your attention making you wonder.

Making you feel eerie and not letting your mind rest until you had set your mind to figure it out properly.

That red thread, the elastic between them. It wasn't connecting their pinky fingers, like they told you in stories and how you had seen it countless times with your own eyes. It wasn't even connected to their hands or wrists. The red line stretched from Percy's back to Annabeth's.

You were wondering why, when suddenly Annabeth caught a blow that was meant to reach Percy's back and got her shoulder wounded.

At that point your mind went blank.

No more worries about being a nuisance or probably getting yourself killed by doing what you did then. Including your heartache all of it disappeared. Leaving you with determination.

You ran up to the two of them.

Percy was holding Annabeth up while still fighting and the Apollo Kids were fighting for their own lives. Dodging all of the attacks, something Luke had trained you since it became clear you would probably never yield a weapon, you managed to grab Annabeth, upon which Percy gave you a thankful glance, and dragged her out of the way. Getting yourself out of the way as well while you were at it.

The fight went on, but you didn't pay attention any more. Now you were focused on doing all you could for Annabeth.

Thankfully you had thought of taking some medical supplies with you, even if you had to steer clear of anything else helpful apart from this and your expandable shield you brought with you.

The shield had been crafted by Charles Beckendorf because Luke had asked him to. Thereafter Charles had spent some time with you to find out what exactly you needed. And crafted a shield for you from celestial bronze now dangling from your left wrist as a bronze bracelet.

You didn't know him very well, but still you had had been sad when you heard he died. It might have been his fate – you had seen his end of the thread connecting him and Silena Beauregard by their pinky fingers slowly turning black – still it seemed so unfair.

A sudden loud crumbling sound and several crashes caught your attention making you turn around to see the bridge behind you fall into the river ending the fight – for now.

Then all attention concentrated on you.

Well not on you exactly, but more on Annabeth who was lying beside you with an injured shoulder. You had done your best to treat the wound, but you were no healer.

Quickly they got a stretcher to lay Annabeth upon and transported her to the demi-gods' main headquarters.

You walked right beside the stretcher while two strong guys from Apollo cabin carried it, yet nobody questioned you. It was as if you had been there from the beginning, as if you had fought right beside them.

The rest of Apollo's cabin searched for Michael Yew who had fallen along with the enemy and the Williamsburg Bridge.

They carried the stretcher to a building close to Central park you managed to identify as the Plaza Hotel.

You followed them throughout the lobby filled with injured campers and huntresses into the elevator up to the topmost floor.

Injured campers and girls from Artemis' hunting party occupied the suite.

Only when they put Annabeth outside on the terrace you deliberately placed a distance between her and yourself, since she would be the one to recognise you, even if the others didn't.

There was the fact that even if Percy noticed you properly, he didn't know you weren't supposed to be here since he hadn't been in camp when they left. But Annabeth would. Because she had given the order. She was the brain in this operation and she knew you had very little chance of surviving here in midst of the battle. So she did what was best for all. She ordered you to stay in camp where you would have been safe.

You claimed one of the armchairs close to the window as yours. From here you could easily keep an eye on the blonde girl while she was talking to various people.

You could only hope Percy didn't tell her you helped them. But luckily he tended to forget the details.

Annabeth's shoulder wound was bad. Very bad. It hindered her in almost every movement. The ambrosia and the Nectar helped her but she wouldn't regain her usual capabilities. At least not during this war. She could fully heal if she survived. That was _if _she survived which you earnestly prayed for.

You closed your eyes when you saw Percy stepping through the balcony door drawing closer to the injured girl. You really didn't need to see what would come now. The scene you had seen already had pretty much been enough for you.

It broke your heart to know you would never have a chance.

Though you had never really believed to have a chance, facing reality was harsh.

A sigh slipped from your lips as you tried to stay optimistic.

At least it was Annabeth. You liked Annabeth. It would be a whole lot worse if it had been that mortal girl he sometimes talked about or visited. Or one of the somewhat brainless Aphrodite's girls. Or even worse any other girl in Annabeth's cabin.

From this point of view you could have probably called yourself lucky and thus you tried too calm you heart on that thought.

It wasn't that easy but you managed to get your mind off it.

Even if that meant your mind wandered off to a subject you wanted to think of even less.

Triggered by your thoughts of Annabeth you remembered how you got to where you were now.

You remembered clearly your mum smiling at you. Everything apart from her Face was blurred, because your baby eyes were not capable of focusing properly. You remembered your mothers grey eyes. Eyes so similar to Annabeth's, only one thing differentiating the two sets of eyes: Annabeth's grey eyes were so strong. Your Mother's eyes had shown a great deal of pain that had been burdened upon her. Two sets of beautifully grey eyes, yet one mirrored a broken soul.

You could also remember her saying a few words to you, before disappearing from your life forever.

"I'm so sorry I can't give you the life you deserve. I'm so sorry I can't keep you close to me, but you remind me of your father too much. Stay safe..."

Then you had probably fallen asleep in your mother's arms. The next thing you knew was that you had been in a orphanage. And about a week later you had been adopted by a loving young couple you called your parents for the first five years of your life.

It had been a strange coincidence but on the day of your fifth birthday you had lost the charm your mother had left you and your first monster had attacked you killing your adoptive parents.

Since then you had been alone.

Running from place to place hiding from monsters and fighting them if hiding didn't work. Though it more likely had been a generous amount of luck you had received to compensate for your lack of any other ability, that had helped you survive up to this day. Since your only special ability was your absolute lack of any special capability according to the Stoll brothers.

Your life had only then taken a better turn once the satyr Laura had found you.

But for nobody except for you. That was Laura's last assignment. She died by the hand – or more of a claw – of a dracaena just as she pushed you over the border of the camp grounds.

Your start into your new life as a year-round camper in Hermes cabin unclaimed as you still were now and the end of Laura's life fulfilling her duty by getting you to camp.

With a start you snapped your eyes open and got to your feet.

It was no good to dwell upon the past. You had to do something. Right now.

The sun was finally up and morning had only just started when you ran towards the empire state building to get up to Olympus.

The building was empty apart from a couple of demi-gods that didn't pay any attention what-so-ever to you as you took the elevator up to the 600th floor.

Stepping out through the doors that just slid open you laid your eyes upon the white marble of Olympus for the first time. You had never been here before. Who would call you up here? Who would give you a quest leading you here? Your immortal father had forgotten about your existence or something. You couldn't even remember him. He couldn't have come see you once, you would have remembered that.

You looked around memorizing the whole view at one glance. Yet you were not able to get rid of the feeling something was terribly wrong here.

Your feeling told you you were under no circumstances supposed to be here, but you knew you had to ignore this feeling to be able to accomplish anything so you started climbing the only path up to the palace of the gods.

You wanted to change something.

No, you almost had to!

You never wanted to be the nobody you were at the moment, unclaimed and unskilled.

Maybe if you achieved something you immortal parent would recognize you. Then people would start notice you.

Something would change if you initiated the change. Or you would at least die trying.

Therefore the only option you had was to fight alongside the other campers. There would be casualties, but that was the nature of war. Besides the more people fighting the less casualties there would be. Or the more, depending on the outcome of the war.

Anyway you had to go on because you had promised to yourself when you decided to come here that you would not turn back. You would go through this or die trying.

Shuddering as a icy chill ran down your spine you entered the palace of the gods.

The feeling you were not supposed to be here had suddenly vanished, replaced by a distinct feeling of 'you-were-definitely-gonna-die-if-you-didn't-leave-right-that-moment'.

Again you just gulped and forced all of you fear out of your thoughts.

Only an idiot was fearless, you repeated to yourself, only an idiot would not value his own life and idiot wasn't exactly what you liked to call yourself. You had some other very similar words in use but not idiot.

Fighting one's fears and putting one's life on the line to protect what one holds dear makes one a hero, you reminded yourself as you hid behind Zeus' throne concealing your presence from anyone who would enter the room. From there you would be able to intervene without revealing your arrival to the enemy.

Just then you heard voices coming from way down where the elevator was.

A few seconds later you identified the voices as your cabin leaders, the Stoll brothers, and a couple of campers whose voices you didn't recognise joking around while putting up something you assumed to be traps and defence mechanisms of different sorts.

At least that much, you thought relieved from some of your worries, as you slowly sunk to your knees resting your back on Zeus' throne falling asleep since you hadn't slept since coming here.

And that had been at least two days ago.

The last thought crossing your mind was the memory of Argus' eyes focused on you as you snook past the drivers side's window to catch up with the others.

You had the feeling, he knew exactly, you had snook into the van, when everybody had been preparing themselves in camp, quickly grabbing only your shield and some medical supplies. And then having hidden in one of the hollow benches in the van, on which the other campers had sat, hitching a ride to the main scene of the battle.

You slept very restlessly for having stayed awake for more than two days. You hadn't slept much in the last while anyway, nothing at all in the night before the battle and the battle had gone on two days and a night already. No wonder you had been exhausted.

Yet even in your dreams you heard moans and screams and the sound of metal clashing against metal, claws and the awful sound of metal cutting through flesh and severing limbs from bodies.

Only minutes had seemed to have passed when you woke up again, woken by the sound of metal clashing close by. You hadn't the faintest idea how much time had passed while you were asleep.

You peered around the throne and saw the fight going on.

Kronos in Luke's body fought against Annabeth and Percy once again. Backbiter wasn't a scythe any more but back to the sword-form Luke had held it in. That way at least the fight was more equal, even if you knew exactly Kronos had done so to taunt Percy more than thinking of fairness.

You followed them with your eyes. Riptide's and Backbiter's blades clashing again and again. Sparks were flying around shedding their weak read glow upon the opponents' faces.

Then suddenly Percy managed to strike Kronos' Backbiter out of Luke's hand.

It skittered away towards you.

They locked gazes exchanging murderous glances. Not one had a glance left for the lost weapon since it could be the last mistake they'd do. Kronos had put a reasonable distance between himself and Percy's Riptide, yet still didn't take his eyes of his enemy. They circled each other until Kronos had his back turned to you, covering Percy completely from your view. You didn't even see it, you had probably blinked, when suddenly Luke had Annabeth's knife in his hands, now able to continue the fight again, but leaving Annabeth unarmed, so the blonde girl had no choice but to dodge all the attacks aimed for her, since backing away was impossible. There were dracaenae blocking the entrance of the throne room and more standing right in Percy's and Annabeth's backs.

That was it.

You got up. Out of you hiding spot and took Backbiter, that had turned back from a sword to it's original state of a scythe, into your hand.

Suddenly you felt a surge of power run through your body from the scythe.

A person appeared in front of you. Transparent and only focused on you.

That was a first. Not the transparency, but the part of the stranger being focused on you. You saw transparent figures from time to time. Ghosts. Nothing more. You couldn't remember a time you couldn't.

"Alice.", the person in front of you said calmly.

Tears welled up inside of you spilling over and running down your cheeks.

That was the name your biological mother had given you. The only name you had really felt attached to. Even though your adoptive parents had given you a different name everybody knew you by.

You would have told everybody to call you by the name you had received after birth and not the one you received after your adoption if not for the Aphrodite camper that had picked you up from the border. She had told you you should call her 'Alice', even though her real name was 'Anna'. She had laughed and explained it was to distinguish her from Anna, leader of Apollo's cabin at that time. So instead of her first name she had used her middle name to introduce herself.

Yet that kept you stuck with your legal name you hated, because it was obvious nobody would remember you by the name of Alice if they compared you to one of Aphrodite's daughters.

The one of Aphrodite's daughters that had died in the prologue to this war.

"How do you know of this name?", you asked precautiously.

The man chuckled. His long straight black hair flowed down his back. You couldn't determine what age he was. Not because he looked ageless, it was more for the fact the age of his appearance seemed to change by the second.

"Daughter of an immortal, you seem to have finally awakened your powers."

"What do you mean? How do you know me?"

The more the man spoke the more confused you got. Time around you seemed to have stopped.

He took a step closer to you now standing directly in front of you. He was a good foot taller than you, looking down on your face lifting your chin towards his face with one of his large hands.

"Dear Alice, I have known you since the day of your birth. I even know the name your adoptive parents have forced upon you which you loathe."

His appearance took your breath away. He was really handsome. Not in a romantic way, you don't have the hots for a guy you know is a gazillion years older than you. More like an actor you really admire.

"You're an immortal as well. Are you my father?", you asked. Your voice was barely a whisper.

"No, I am not.", the black haired guy smiled slightly amused, but it didn't seem to you as if he was making fun of you. It was more that you assumed he was happy to see you.

"Yet I cannot deny we share a special bond."

His smile widened as he started to talk again.

"You were born on a special day by special parents."

Your mind was working frantically. But I just didn't make any sense to you at all.

Puzzled as you were you met the dark haired man's gaze looking straight into his greyish blue eyes.

A single sigh escaped over the dark haired one's lips yet his smile did not cease. His gaze reminded you of what your mother used to look at you like. Exactly like this.

But hadn't he told you he wasn't your father?

"I see you can not make sense of my words.", he mused still holding your face up to meet his eyes, "Therefore take a moment to think. You have just gained your true powers. How have you achieved this?"

It still didn't make any sense at all to you.

Then all of a sudden it did. The weight of Backbiter, the scythe, weighed heavy in your right hand.

You paled.

"You... You mean... "

The strangers eyes turned soft while you tried to stutter your terrible assumption.

"Exactly. Your immortal father's name is Kronos."

Tears burned in your eyes thinking of all of the terrible things your parent did.

He was your father, so somehow it must be your fault as well.

However that one thought must have showed on your face. At once the man's smile disappeared and he placed his hands on both sides of your face to make you look straight at him, although you didn't want to face anyone ashamed of your patrimony.

"Do not even think in that direction, Alice, daughter of Kronos. You are but his daughter, not himself. You are not responsible for your father's choices."

Somehow his words calmed you, dissipating your restrained tears of guilt. You didn't know why but this man's voice bore this power. Your mind cleared leading it back to a string of thoughts you had almost forgotten.

"I know you're not my father, so tell me who are you?", you posed the question on your mind.

The dark-haired man's smile resurfaced. He let go of your face since you wouldn't avert your gaze now that you wanted an answer.

"In a way I can be called your father as well.", he said turning his back on you and taking a couple of steps walking around at a slow pace.

"What do you mean?", you inquired becoming more puzzled and also more angry as you pondered over the issue.

Abruptly the dark-haired one turned around again facing the blonde you.

"You were born on a anniversary long forgotten. The day I gained conscious, you would call it birth, which decades later became the day I decided to disappear, meaning death. All of what happened long before time was recorded."

His blue eyed gaze trailed off and his voice seemed more distant when he went on talking.

Increasingly tired of the circular path this conversation was taking you took hold of his white tunic's black sleeves seemingly cutting off any way out for him.

One thing you had learned from this conversation was to demand specific answers with accurate questions.

"If you have died, why are you still here? And what is your name? What do humans call you?"

"For one there is the strong belief of a unwavering young maiden that called me back."

He motioned towards the fight that had totally frozen. They weren't moving a millimetre.

"Annabeth Chase, has always, since she first heard a word of my existence, believed in my existence, believed I was alive. With an unwavering strength her belief was the one thing connecting me to this earth. Then there is the second fact, that time never stops, for noone, yet there was no Olympian to represent and govern it. My life wouldn't end until a successor was found, which has not happened up to this very moment."

Your eyes widened as you realised the meaning in his words.

"You're Chronos.", you stated simply, too amazed to find any presumably appropriate words, "The greek god of time."

"Yes, young Alice, this is the name I have been given."

Regaining the words that had failed you becoming all flustered you tried to respond and express your confusion.

"But-... How-... why did you say you were my father in a way?"

"Your mother bound me to this world and your birth took place on a date tied insolubly to my power."

He moved his hands conjuring up a mirror.

"Haven't you noticed? Your eyes. They do not carry the colour your mother's eyes do, neither fully the shade of your father's. They are of a shade called Cambridge blue by mortals just like mine."

Your expression reflected on the mirror was simple amazement. You had forever wondered about your eyes because you knew your mortal mother didn't have this colour and had simply thought it was your immortal parents heirloom. Since then you had looked out for a god with your intriguing eye colour but even though gods sometimes appeared at camp half-blood in the eleven years you had spent there no god with your particular colour had come by.

"I don't understand... Lord Chronos... It doesn't make any sense to me."

Pleadingly you raised your eyes to his. They were so similar to yours. Only the golden sprinkles weren't there. He closed the distance he had put in between you again and put his hands on your shoulders unwaveringly meeting your gaze.

Tears of confusion welled up inside you.

"You said my mother... You said she tied you to this world...Yet it was Annabeth's belief that bound you to this world... Do you want to say Annabeth's my mother?! But-... but that can't be! I mean, we're the same age. We can't be mother and daughter! So what do you mean?!"

Again a look overflowing with parental love surfaced in Chronos' eyes as he answered you. He spoke slowly stressing every single word.

"I exist with as one being in every time and every dimension. I am not bound to a single plane of existence like mortals, demi-gods or even the other immortals. This is the reason I am still alive. Annabeth's strong belief in the distant future called out to me and I heard it because I exist here and then simultaneously."

You let the words sink in. Then after thinking carefully a definite conclusion formed in your head.

"You mean I am Annabeth's daughter from the future.", you said frantically searching for any sign of untruth in Chronos' eyes, "but why would Annabeth have a child with Kronos?"

An instant was all it took, after the word had escaped your mouth, for you to realize what it meant. You eyes widened from shock.

"She was raped."

That was the meaning behind her words "I'm so sorry I can't keep you close to me, but you remind me of your father too much."

You reminded her of that horrible incident.

Chronos nodded.

Only then the whole extent of what you'd just heard extended in front of you.

"So Kronos is going to win this war..."

Chronos shook his head placing his hand under your chin to make you look him in the eye again.

"That might have applied to the time stream you were born in, but there are choices that have an influence on each time stream and each time stream differs from the other. Even if you go back in time, you can not be sure you will reach the past of you own time stream, so you mustn't loose hope here, Alice."

"Right."

You mumbled nodding slightly.

"But why the time leap? And did you place me in this time stream?"

Chronos' eyes turned soft once again.

"Not by my self. I had help."

You let out a annoyed cry.

That was the last straw. Now you were fed up. His eyes might be full of kindness and benevolence. But all of the riddles he had given you had definitely gotten you fed up.

Absolutely irritated by not receiving a decent answer but more and more questions and horrible revelations you finally snapped.

"I am no longer a small child you have to keep oblivious of the world. Could. You. Just. Explain. So. I. Understand. For. Once?!", you hissed.

You had broken free from his grip in which he was holding your gaze locked with his and were fuming with anger. Tears now rolled down your cheeks freely.

He must have been controlling your anger with his gaze. Otherwise there would have been no way you would have stayed this calm. You got angry pretty fast, must have been something you inherited from your immortal father, despite you managing to seem very calm on the outside.

And even if he didn't have the power to do so, the colour of his eyes set a flood of questions loose inside your head keeping your anger well in check. That was at least until now you no longer looked straight into his eyes. Now you couldn't contain your anger any longer and the flood of questions he set loose inside of you fed your anger.

Chronos sighed.

"If you insist. I will answer truthfully if you pose the proper question."

"Why am I in a different time rather than in my own?"

The dark haired immortal averted his gaze.

"For your mother knew your father would have killed you, as he would have done with a lot of his children."

"Who helped you?"

"My eyes are the source of my power, dear Alice."

It took you a moment during which you had just wanted to snap back at him about his promise, when you thought about it again.

"Do you want to insinuate I have the same powers as you do? But you aren't my father. So what are you trying to tell me?"

A slight smile placed itself on his lips. As he cryptically announced: "There is more than one way to bequeath one's powers to another. You needn't be connected by blood in all of them."

Your thought were once again racing around in your head.

"You mean I am to be your successor?"

Smiling at you widely due to your realisation like a proud father he indicated a small nod.

"You were the one to help me, because I had needed all of my powers which I had already started to transfer to you."

"But I was never able to use any special power. Not to mention alter the flow of time.", you tried interjecting but you knew exactly from Chronos unceasing proud look he was certain to have found his successor.

"You will only be able to use my powers once I perish. Moreover like all of the other offspring of the immortals you had to awaken your dormant powers by coming in touch with you father's power. You simply had to come across something your immortal parent is connected with first, which you have now done. You have reached for Kronos' Scythe."

Finally having all of your questions answered your anger subsided and for the first time during this war a small smile crept onto your face.

"Will I be able to fight?"

"Yes, your true abilities have now been awakened, Alice, daughter of Kronos."

With that one sentence Chronos had relieved you of all your worries. For once in your life you would be able to fight to protect what you loved and whom you treasured.

"Thank you, Chronos.", you said smiling brightly, "Thank you for all you've done for me up to now."

It was time.

Time for you to do what you had to do.

You had wanted to change something.

And something had changed because you had initiated the change.

Suddenly you were unable to see Chronos anymore and time seemed to flow properly again.

A strange analysing calm had laid itself upon you as you gripped the scythe tightly and approached the fighting opponents.

Annabeth was the first to notice you. Her eyes widened as she recognised who was standing there holding Kronos' Scythe.

She caught your gaze and you felt your own glance turn soft speaking of love and sympathy towards your biological mother. You gave her a small warm smile, just before raising your voice to address the titan whose back was turned on you a couple of feet in front of you.

"Kronos!"

At once Percy's gaze focused on the person speaking behind Kronos. And Kronos, inching away from Percy at once, turned around to see who was daring to say his name in such a tone.

A sneer surfaced on his features as he recognised you from Luke's memory.

"You?", he asked incredulously, "What do you believe you can accomplish with my scythe? Ah, I know, you came to return it to me! Very well, I shall honour you for doing so, after we have gotten rid of these pests and won this war."

A self-content smile spread across Luke's lips as Kronos spoke his assumption out aloud.

The simple thought of the nonsense Kronos had just spouted made you sneer in a very similar fashion to the one Kronos had just displayed.

"Help you? Please. You may be my father, but luckily I still have a mother!", you spat at him.

At once his smile disappeared replaced by horrendous mocking laughter.

"You?! My daughter? You failure of an unclaimed bastard dare to assume to be my daughter?!"

Your lips pressed together to a fine line not showing any emotion what-so-all you lifted Kronos' scythe.

Swinging it around in circles with ease without as much as even touching yourself you started to circle your immortal father.

"Suit yourself."

You were surprised how easy it suddenly was to use a weapon just as you were surprised how you were suddenly so calm when you had better been afraid for your own life.

But there were two people staring at you with big eyes not believing what was happening in that moment.

"I see you have improved since Luke left.", the titan said with a slight growling undertone, "But that won't help you at all!"

The two demi-gods gazes stated clearly, that they knew exactly you hadn't achieved this skill in camp.

He lunged at you, pushing you, barely able to see his attack, into a defensive stance.

At once, as if someone had hit a switch in your brain, all of the manoeuvres you had trained again and again at camp made sense. All in the second Annabeth's knife held by Kronos hit the scythe in your hands.

Slash for slash you blocked and soon it became clear to you you would have no chance what-so-ever if you continued this way.

You only had one chance.

Gripping the scythe tightly with both your hands you changed your stance as fast as you could and charged.

Luke's features showed mild surprise but he soon overcame it and went back to attacking rather than defending against your attacks.

Strike and parry took their turns in a speed gaining pattern in which you soon started having problems to see the blades. Yet it felt natural to you. The circles you spun the scythe in were engraved in your subconscious and your conscious only decided in what direction you would slash.

The there was a opening. Immediately you went for the kill, that was the only way. Even though you respected Luke, that was his body but conscious no more. In front of you there was only your father, who had done so many bad things and had caused so much pain for your mother.

A scream pierced the hall and made you hesitate as it was Annabeth's voice.

You wanted to turn around to see what had happened to her but Kronos was faster.

In a swift movement he snatched away Backbiter from your hands. Now you were unarmed. But before you could dive away Kronos had already slashed you with Backbiter's iron blade.

You felt the wound he had inflicted to you sting across your upper body as you stumbled backwards into Percy's and Annabeth's arms.

You pressed you hand against the gush trying to stop the bleeding, looking at Kronos with as much hate as you could possibly manage to fill into your gaze.

"I had thought I had aimed to cut you in half, but I must've miscalculated.", he mused with a cold smile.

His words didn't make any sense in your ears. How could he have missed? Yet you could feel the cut across your chest healing until it was only a bit more than a superficial cut.

Annabeth was leaning over you trying to feed you some ambrosia while spreading cream over your cut.

There were tears in her eyes as she mumbled absent-mindedly.

"It's a miracle, I could have sworn Kronos had sliced her apart from where the blade entered."

"I'm not half.", you explained absent-mindedly, chewing a bite of ambrosia half-heartedly and pushing the rest aside as you got up again, "I'm three-quarters. I presume iron has less effect on me."

Getting back to your feet you had to admit you had no weapon to fight on with. All you were left with was your shield.

It wasn't expanded yet but it would create an opening for you to reclaim Backbiter if you distracted Kronos by only using your shield at the last moment.

That was the only plan you had, so you kinda had to go by it. Especially because you didn't want to get Percy and Annabeth caught up in this anymore than they had already been. It kinda was a family affair after all.

Just then you caught glimpse of Annabeth's knife mindlessly tossed aside a couple a feet away from Kronos' foot. If you got that, you'd have a realistic chance to succeed with your plan.

Lunging forwards in a rather risky move you dived to acquire the knife of celestial bronze. Kronos' scythe hit the white marble floor and missed you by a hair's width as you got up to fight once more this time you holding the knife, your opponent armed with Backbiter.

You weren't confident you could hold up this unfair fight for very long despite awakening your true abilities and were frantically looking for a opportunity.

And then you saw it.

Kronos was going to try to sever your left arm from your shoulder after having deflected your knife with so much strength you almost lost grip on it. There was no way you would be able to use the opening with your right hand holding the knife that far away. And Kronos raised his scythe to gain additional momentum to enhance the power of his slash.

You knew exactly you would only have a split second to carry out you plan. You would be able to reach your left wrist faster than Kronos' Backbiter but only by a split second. A split second to activate your shield. And then you would have to fall to your knees as fast as you could to give your shield the time it needed to expand. Otherwise you'd have forsaken both your arms by trying.

But it was your only chance.

As fast as it was possible for you, you pulled back your hand holding Annabeth's knife, faking a slash against Luke's chest.

Only at the last possible second you changed the course of your hand to push the tiny little button on your bracelet.

You saw Kronos' eyes widen in surprise, just as you dived down when your shield expanded.

In the blink of an eye you were crouching with your left arm over your head.

A split second before your father would have hit you with his scythe, you had stopped Backbiter with your plain shield of celestial bronze.

Quickly you got up again, pushing your shield up as you did so and sending Backbiter up flying.

As fast as you could you let go if Annabeth's knife and jumped to catch hold of the scythe spinning in the air.

But that proved to be a big mistake.

Kronos had not reached for Backbiter but for the knife and had stabbed it right into the middle of your chest.

The pain didn't strike you immediately. Still in the middle of your jump you tried to reach Backbiter.

Then the pain struck you with all it's might.

You could barely breathe. You felt your blood slowly filling your lung and staining your orange camp t-shirt crimson red. You should have worn your armour even if you had thought you wouldn't fight. It had been crackbrained not to.

Next thing you knew you fell. But Percy caught you. He and Annabeth tried to help you but you knew exactly your time had come.

In the background you could hear Kronos laughing and shouting out to his troops.

You felt exactly you had seconds left and turned to Percy.

"Percy...", you said in a weak voice as you couldn't breathe properly anymore.

At once you had his full attention. His eyes spoke of the pain he bore having to loose yet another companion.

You smiled weakly.

"I love you. I have always done since you spoke to me on that day five years ago. I wish for you to become happy."

He nodded, his eyes proof of his grief.

Then you turned towards Annabeth.

"Annabeth, I cannot to tell you why, but you were always very important to me. Please, live on and fulfil your love."

You saw her eyes revealing her puzzlement about this remark and how much it hurt her to see you die.

Your gaze went on and you saw Chronos standing there in front of you as transparent as always.

"I'm sorry, Chronos. I guess, I can't be your successor.", you whispered so quietly you were sure neither Annabeth nor Percy were able to hear you.

Yet Chronos seemed to be able, as he looked as if he were about to cry. His fatherly love reflected in his eyes showed his sadness, making you wish you could soothe his pain.

A faint smile was all you could muster up.

A cough escaped your lips, even though you tried your best to keep it back, revealing blood.

Your last glance was directed towards Luke as you spoke in a fading voice.

"Thanks, Luke, for teaching me."

Your smile widened as you thought of the words your mother had said when she named you.

"Young Alice following a white rabbit leaped into a hole, finding herself in a whole different dimension and time. I shall name you after her, dear daughter of mine, because your quite similar, don't you think so too, Alice?"

Then your eyes closed and your body slowly went rigid.

You woke up lying in a lush field of grass. Long gold blonde hair was spread out around you as you slowly started to get up.

Where were you?

You had no idea. Furthermore there was this strange sensation tingling in the back of your mind you were not really here but somewhere else.

Then all of a sudden a huge shadow was cast upon you.

Still drowsy you looked up to meet the persons eyes when you realised that had to be Hades.

"Hello, little sister of mine. I have been asked to take you somewhere."

You nodded half-absently when he helped you up.

"Hold on tight.", he told you and you held onto his tunic just when it you started feeling a violent gale pass you.

From one moment to the next you were standing in a white marble hall with rows of thrones standing to both sides.

Slowly you let go of Hades' robes and tapped into the room. Your feet were bare footed and a long white gown which reached down to the ground tickled your feet.

You would have said it was Olympus' throne room, but there were too many thrones around.

Behind you Hades' put a hand on your back guiding you right into the room.

All of the Greek gods you could remember ever having seen were here. All on their own thrones, each and every one possessing one, even the minor gods, but there was one left empty.

Questioningly you looked up at Poseidon, Zeus and Hera at the head of the rows.

Hades behind you gave you a last push and thereafter left for his own throne.

That was when Zeus started talking his voice echoing from the walls

"Alice, daughter of Kronos, it seems we owe you as well."

Amazedly you looked up to the immortal who had spoken. His face showed nothing but benevolence.

"As well?", you asked utterly puzzled. Your mind couldn't quite cope yet, there were so many things leading your attention astray, pictures of places you had never seen flashing up, making it impossible to think in straight lines.

"Yes, as well. We have come together here as to thank the ones we owe our victory to. Two have already been awarded as you can see. The destroyed Olympus is being reconstructed by a new architect and there are more thrones to this room. We are bound by our oath to respect every god, even the minor ones and to claim each and every one of our children as ours.", your immortal half-brother explained.

You nodded and let the words sink in. Yet they still didn't want to make any sense to you.

"You fought well, sister.", Hera said softly.

Tears came to your eyes when you realised these people had been your family all along.

"And we're proud to announce we welcome you as one of ours."

Taken by surprise you stared at Zeus.

"I am but three-quarters. I could under no circumstances dare to assume to have the right of taking place on a throne in this hall."

His benevolent smile widened as he spoke again.

"You're wrong there, sister. Chronos' transferred his powers and immortality to you after your death. You are three-quarters no more but immortal now. He came to explain to us just before he disappeared. After having been stabbed by celestial bronze your death had restarted the time line you had entered. We Olympians won with the help of the heroes from camp half-blood and our dear nephew Percy Jackson. Our father is back in Tartarus where he belongs. Everything is alright now."

Now mentioned you finally started to understand the sensation at the back of your mind. Your existence was no longer bound to one time line, you existed in every time and place at the same time now. Even in the time Chronos had still existed. It wasn't as if he had died. His existence that had been time and space itself had disappeared as though it had never existed in the first place, leaving nothing more than memories of him. It was now your existence of which time and space consisted.

Tears spilled from your eyes and soft sobbing noises escaped from under your hand with which you covered your mouth to stop your sobs.

"Thank goodness.", you whispered between the sobs, "Thank goodness, father was stopped."

You couldn't remember a time you had been happier.

"I'm sorry to say this, but nobody from camp will remember you.", Poseidon interjected with a pitying voice.

Carefully you wiped away your tears and looked straight up at your brother, the god of the sea.

A small smile appeared on your face.

"That's okay. It wasn't meant to be anyway."

You weren't sure if you meant them knowing you or your love to Percy and you had the feeling Poseidon knew too.

"You could look for a lover if you wanted.", he proposed carefully.

Shaking your head slightly looking down at the white marble floor you answered without a single doubt.

"I don't think that will be necessary. I have felt the sensation of love and I experienced the pain one has to bear if one looses it. I think I shall visit Calypso though."

Looking up again smiling a bit more confidently you met Hera's eyes as she was nodding understandingly.

Finally realising what it meant to have a real family for your own your smile grew brighter as you chuckled: "Well I guess I'm governing time and space now, huh? That at least means I have a lot of time to think."


End file.
